I'm quite astonished to see that while some extremely pleasant to control characters have been mentioned there, no one has yet talked about Alucard, of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night fame. I'm just in love with the way he moves, and the attention that's been given to each detail. His stunningly smooth animation, the way he doesn't just start walking right away but rather glides on a short distance, the shadowy trail he leaves behind him... Aargh. On top of that, he responds to the commands instantly, and his abilities are both pleasing and easy to use. SotN really feels like you're controlling a half-vampire. A pleasure, I tell you, especially when compared to the arthritis almost all of the Belmont family seems to be suffering from. This, added to the fact that SotN is probably the finest 2D platformer/Metroid-like ever produced and to its incredible soundtrack, often make me load up the game just for the fun of controlling Alucard, as I wander aimlessly in Dracula's castle.
Dante has already been mentioned, and I agree with everything that's been said. When you play as him, you just have to show off. You can't resist the urge to. An added benefit to this is that when I demo the game to friends and offer them the controller (usually just after the cinematic where Dante obtains Alastor -- this one will remain burned into my memory till the end of time), most of them answer something in the lines of "no, that's okay, keep playing, I just want to watch". And being told to play more DMC can't be a bad thing. ^^
I'd also like to add Max Payne, though the whole game adds up to way much more than the sum of its parts. The control scheme is rather basic, but surprisingly well executed. Max does what you want when you want him to. But what really makes him shine is the use of bullet-time and the physics engine in the second episode. I mean, come on, it's a game that switches into slow motion all by itself when you jump sideways as you open fire with your twin pistols. There's a feeling of power that just, you know... Rocks. The spin-reload animation oozes style. And the physics engine, while completely unnecessary, makes the game universe even more convincing and believable. Nothing screams "Hong-Kong blood opera" like enemy corpses and scenery flying around in slow motion under a hail of bullets and explosions. Those Swedes at Remedy sure do know their thing.
And I liked how they made Mona Sax move a bit differently, 'feeling' lighter although she does the exact same thing at the exact same speed as Max. Her backflips (instead of Max's backwards rolls) were fun, but what really made me applaud was when I saw she didn't wield her twin guns like Max. She holds them sideways, 'gangsta-style' (think Enforcers' secondary fire in Unreal Tournament), while Max stays true to the classic Chow Yun-Fat school of gun-fu.
Dante has already been mentioned, and I agree with everything that's been said. When you play as him, you just have to show off. You can't resist the urge to. An added benefit to this is that when I demo the game to friends and offer them the controller (usually just after the cinematic where Dante obtains Alastor -- this one will remain burned into my memory till the end of time), most of them answer something in the lines of "no, that's okay, keep playing, I just want to watch". And being told to play more DMC can't be a bad thing. ^^
I'd also like to add Max Payne, though the whole game adds up to way much more than the sum of its parts. The control scheme is rather basic, but surprisingly well executed. Max does what you want when you want him to. But what really makes him shine is the use of bullet-time and the physics engine in the second episode. I mean, come on, it's a game that switches into slow motion all by itself when you jump sideways as you open fire with your twin pistols. There's a feeling of power that just, you know... Rocks. The spin-reload animation oozes style. And the physics engine, while completely unnecessary, makes the game universe even more convincing and believable. Nothing screams "Hong-Kong blood opera" like enemy corpses and scenery flying around in slow motion under a hail of bullets and explosions. Those Swedes at Remedy sure do know their thing.
And I liked how they made Mona Sax move a bit differently, 'feeling' lighter although she does the exact same thing at the exact same speed as Max. Her backflips (instead of Max's backwards rolls) were fun, but what really made me applaud was when I saw she didn't wield her twin guns like Max. She holds them sideways, 'gangsta-style' (think Enforcers' secondary fire in Unreal Tournament), while Max stays true to the classic Chow Yun-Fat school of gun-fu.
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